Rookie vs. Veteran

My friend says that Coco Crisp will start over Jacoby Ellsbury. Upon asking him why, he proceeded to outline all his reasons, and I dutifully listened while scrolling through a large file of pictures I had saved to a disk for some reason before my hard-drive crashed. One in particular struck me, and so in the middle of his explanation, I belted out in the most bizarre voice I've ever used [in an attempt to sound like a Yoda/baby] I said, "OH REALLY?"

I blame this picture:



Anyway, after I regain control and stopped laughing at the picture, I decided to think about the whole Crisp/Ellsbury situation from a non-biased viewpoint. It was harder then I thought, but here's what I came up with. I attempted to break it into three seperate categories so my musings will be easier to follow.

Defense
Coco Crisp: Crisp was stellar at his position in center field last year, making highlight reel catches whenever he needed to. He made catches that a lot of people thought weren't catchable. Everytime he was out there, he'd give 100%, running hard into the Green Monster on more then one occasion to catch a ball.

Jacoby Ellsbury: He's got the speed of Coco, and it's almost frightening to think of how good he'll be once he learns more about the opponents and their tendencies. As we saw on multiple occasions, he's more then willing to throw himself into every play.

Edge: Coco Crisp - veteran fielder with lots of speed

Offense

Coco Crisp: He was in somewhat of a slump last year, hitting .268 overall with just 60 RBIs.

Jacoby Ellsbury: Coming out, Jacoby instantly made a splash with the Sox. He hit .353 coming out of the gate, and is capable of turning singles into doubles, doubles into triples, and so on.

Edge: Jacoby Ellsbury - the boy is just damn good

Speed

Coco Crisp: 28 stolen bases on the season, and amazing defensive speed.

Jacoby Ellsbury: I've personally never seen someone score from on a passed ball before.

Edge: I'd say it's a tie.

Decision

So, what does that say about them? Well, it says that I can't make up my mind. I suppose that's what I'm not part of Red Sox management. Personally, I'd like to see Coco start the season, and let Jacoby work to get the spot. As the veteran, Crisp deserves a chance to prove himself as an offensive force as well as defensive.

Ah, spring.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Josh Beckett. Josh Beckett is getting ready for the 2008 season. And Josh Beckett doesn't exactly care if he's playing against the Yankees or a bunch of college students - he's going to do his best. Unfortuantly for Boston College baseball players, that meant striking out four of the six batters he faced, throwing twenty-five pitches, eighteen of which were strikes. No one reached base against him. Poor college boys.

Says Beckett, "When you're out there trying to execute pitches, it doesn't matter who you're facing...I'm not going to let them hit it. It doesn't matter. I'm out there trying to do my job. My job right now is to get in shape for the season."

After all that, Josh still wasn't too happy with his performance. Not too pleased with his curveball, he went down to the bullpen after the game and threw about seventeen pitches to try and get everything moving right together. Of course, with typical Josh fashion, he managed to confuse me with his words when he said, "It was just my body getting out in front of me and my body having to rush to catch up." Now, if your body was in front of you, why would it have to catch up? Quite odd, if you ask me. Of course, I'm more then willing to bow before the powers-that-be Beckett's English, and let him say whatever he wants.

As for the second game, that one went quite well too. Fifteen to zero, with the Sox sweeping past Northeastern University. Justin Masterson went two innings, striking out one and allowing just one hit. After that hit, Justin managed to get the next batter to hit into a double-play.

Nice way to start the season, even if it's not really the season yet.